Fall is full for Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg will make a rare cameo appearance on Entourage, the hit HBO series he executive produces, when the fifth season begins next month. And his third child with fiancee Rhea Durham is due in September.

"Pretty Boy" Floyd modified his persona to "Money" Mayweather while Kelly Pavlik got up from a knockdown to knock out Jermain Taylor. In leaving their indelible mark on the boxing world, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the Taylor-Pavlik middleweight championship bout are USA TODAY's 2007 Fighter and Fight of the Year.

A Thousand Splendid Suns, a gut-wrenching novel about the plight of Afghan women, makes its debut at No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list, a testament to positive reviews and the popularity of author Khaled Hosseini. His 2003 debut, The Kite Runner, remains an international best seller and book club favorite.

American Idol's producers may not have intended it, but the online contest to choose the season's trophy song may have decided the singing competition as well. One of the goals of the songwriting contest was to find a fresher song than the tired, clich-ridden power ballads that professional songwriters had foisted on past Idol winners.

Successful appearances have helped make reality TV shows attractive to athletes, particularly those whose careers have wound down and those in lesser-known sports who are thirsty for publicity. Athletes increasingly are recognizing that a successful turn in reality television can lead to more TV gigs, radio shows, book deals and endorsements.

Thousands of online gamers raced to reschedule their vacation time after the announcement that The Burning Crusade, the highly anticipated expansion of World of Warcraft, is being delayed until January. Mystery at Mansfield Manor has gotten a lot of attention lately, thanks mainly to the tireless promotion of creator Rory Scherer.

Most people had turned out the lights on James Toney's fading career by 2002. But then came 2003, when with a mighty push from savior-promoter Dan Goossen, a re-energized Toney blasted his way back into our consciousness and resurrected himself.